The New Jersey Department of Human Services announced Friday that $70 million was added to assist with the Food Assistance for Vulnerable Families program. The enhanced benefits are a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Effective March 29, $35 million in supplemental payments will be provided to approximately 205,000 New Jersey households enrolled in the NJ SNAP program,” explained Donna Groome, director of the Cape May County Department of Human Services.
She continued, “A total of $70 million in additional SNAP benefits will be provided over the next two months to help with the purchase of groceries, according to the New Jersey Human Services Department.”
The SNAP supplemental payments were included in the federal Families First Coronaviruses Response Act. Supplemental payments will be loaded to the recipients’ Families First EBT cards.
“This enhanced benefits program for our countywide SNAP recipients is extremely important during this time,” she noted. “We are all impacted by this pandemic and we must ensure that our families who participate in SNAP and other supplemental programs are taken care of immediately.”
Freeholder Jeffrey Pierson, liaison to the County Health and Human Services, said, “Layoffs are happening daily, and we need to ensure we can provide back up to continue to provide support.”
A link to the new assistance program and chart showing the supplemental benefits can be found on the Cape May County website.
Go to www.capemaycountynj.gov and click on the COVID-19 link and click the tab on the left side of the page called “Social Services Update.”
For more information and for the latest countywide updates on COVID-19, visit www.capemaycountynj.gov.
